The Right Choice? The Gender Divide Steering Gen Z Men Away From the Left
After months of debates, rallies, and intense campaigning, Donald Trump emerged victorious as the 47th President of the United States, winning both the Electoral College and popular vote in the 2024 election. His decisive win, however, reveals a deeper ideological divide in America, which has become especially pronounced among Gen Z voters. Are these results a response to the culture wars imposed by the left? Or is his election more of a rejection of the labeling and demonizing done by radicals? Claire Cain Miller’s thought-provoking New York Times article “Many Gen Z Men Feel Left Behind. Some See Trump as an Answer.” may have the answers. By providing commentary on the increasingly ideological divide between genders and shedding some light on the rejection of masculinity as a vice by Gen Z males, Miller aims to explain the recent rightwards shift of this demographic.
Polls have shown that the majority of Gen Z-ers—individuals born between 1997 and 2012—lean to the left, with only around 21% identifying as conservative (PRRI, 2024). Now, as a Gen Z male myself, I will make it no secret that I am part of the 21%: I am fiscally conservative and socially moderate. While I certainly don’t agree with all of Trump’s policies and viewpoints and won’t blindly pledge allegiance to the Republican Party (or any party, for that matter), I ideologically align more closely with him than Harris.
I was a liberal a few years ago, opposing many of the values I now hold. However, there were some push factors in the Democratic Party that made me stray from the left, one of them being the rise of radical fourth-wave feminism—the newest chapter of the feminist movement characterized by its support of #MeToo, abortion rights, and female empowerment in both the social and corporate world. This movement, adopted by many in the Democratic Party, also promotes the dismantling of the “patriarchy”—the social system where men are in power—and views traditional masculinity and male privilege as a vice that must be dismantled.
Personally, I don’t think blaming men rather than trying to maintain equality between the genders is an effective way to solve societal issues, as many of the Gen Z men interviewed by Miller in the article expressed (Miller, 2024). Now, that’s not to say that the manosphere or the misogynists of the alt-right condemned by the article are correct. Still, it is true that the Democratic Party largely alienated itself from half of the population in favor of minorities. In fact, Miller can provide some tangible evidence: she notes how their official party website has a page titled “Who We Serve” that lists 16 demographic groups, including “women” but not “men” (Miller, 2024). Miller further points out how “half of men 18 to 29 say there is some or a lot of discrimination against men in American society” especially with the rise of feminist values and gender equity, leading to many men feeling disenfranchised and alienated from the Democrats (Miller, 2024). I’m not against the empowerment of minorities or women—rather, I wholeheartedly encourage it—but it shouldn’t necessarily be at the expense of men or used as an excuse to blame men. As Miller points out, “parts of the [feminist] movement have seemed to dismiss or even demonize men” and cast doubt on their masculinity. Even the word demonize, with the root word demon, implies this idea of vice and immoral behavior associated with it.
Interestingly, we see a completely different strategy on the other side of the aisle. The Republican Party is tailoring its message towards younger men; as the article points out, Trump frequented UFC matches and sneaker conventions, where the audience largely consists of males (Miller, 2024). Barron Trump, the president-elect’s 6-foot-9 Gen Z son, even got involved in the campaign trail, advising his father to join podcasts popular among those his age. Though I am not a huge fan of watching men beat each other up or care much about sneakers, I have friends who enjoy these things and thus feel seen by Trump. Unlike Harris, he attempted to bond and connect with young male voters over many hobbies and events seen as masculine. Rather than pushing them down for the sake of gender equity, Trump offered them salvation through masculine virtue as they struggled to grasp the idea of being vices to society as promoted by the left. Of course, by no means is Trump a virtuous individual, but his marketing of masculinity as a virtue rather than a vice is a stark contrast to his liberal counterparts and is something that many Gen Z males find appealing. I can see the appeal: true masculinity, which promotes strength, courage, individualism, respect, and—yes—virtue, is something that many males my age strive for. Trump reflects these values not only on the campaign trail but also in aspects such as foreign policy and border policy, where he promotes peace through strength (Miller, 2024). Republicans are offering a conservative idea that is oddly progressive in our current society: masculinity should be embraced, not demonized.
Turns out, this strategy worked very well for Trump and the Republican Party this election cycle: the GOP won the presidency, flipped the Senate, and kept the House of Representatives. This was in large part due to record-breaking voter turnout among Gen Z male voters, who deeply resonated with the idea of masculinity being a virtue, not a vice (Sherman, 2024). Still, going to a left-leaning school, I know that many of my peers may not understand the rationale behind why men like me are conservative. To them, Miller’s article is able to shed some light on this demographic shift to the right. To the Republican Party, the article provides a masterclass on finding success by embracing virtues rather than alienating based on vice.
References
Claire Cain Miller. 2024. “Many Gen Z Men Feel Left Behind. Some See Trump as an Answer.” Nytimes.com. The New York Times. August 24, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/24/upshot/trump-polls-young-men.html.
Parker, Kim, and Ruth Igielnik. 2020. “On the Cusp of Adulthood and Facing an Uncertain Future: What We Know about Gen Z so Far.” Pew Research Center. May 14, 2020. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/05/14/on-the-cusp-of-adulthood-and-facing-an-uncertain-future-what-we-know-about-gen-z-so-far/.
PRRI. 2024. “A Political and Cultural Glimpse into America’s Future: Generation Z’s Views on Generational Change and the Challenges and Opportunities Ahead | PRRI.” PRRI | at the Intersection of Religion, Values, and Public Life. January 22, 2024. https://www.prri.org/research/generation-zs-views-on-generational-change-and-the-challenges-and-opportunities-ahead-a-political-and-cultural-glimpse-into-americas-future/.
Sherman, Carter. 2024. “‘A Big Cratering’: An Expert on Gen Z’s Surprise Votes – and Young Women’s Growing Support for Trump.” The Guardian. The Guardian. November 8, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/08/young-voters-trump-gen-z.